Overcast skies did little to diminish spirits of nearly fifty volunteers at the Head of Westport who donned gloves for a hands-on annual Earth Day Cleanup sponsored by the Westport River Watershed Alliance Saturday morning. The celebration included the unveiling of a sign explaining the newly constructed wetlands system at the Head of Westport Landing on Old County Road. The bulrushes, cattails, and arrow-arum that were planted in the wetlands are designed to filter pollution out of storm water runoff.
Volunteers at the Head included parents eager to be “stewards of the earth” role models for their young children, residents from Drift Road, WRWA members, and young men and women from Water Watch at U Mass Dartmouth. After Executive Director Gay Gillespie welcomed the group, including Highway Surveyor Jack Sisson and former Selectman Liz Collins who had both moved the project along, she gave the volunteers their marching orders. For the rest of the morning, the group enthusiastically removed the temporary fencing that held silt from running into the river while the basin was built, removed debris accumulated during the winter, raked the bottom of the retention basin and planted grass seed there.
Photo: Executive Director Gay Gillespie hands out cleanup equipment to young volunteers as Town Administrator Charlene Wood looks on.
“It was a very worthwhile day at Cherry and Webb Beach, too,” WRWA staff member Dee Morris reported. Members of local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, families, and other members from Water Watch at U Mass Dartmouth collected stray lobster pots and fishing net, tires and debris from negligent partiers. “There was more debris from parties in the dune area and more intentionally broken glass in the parking lot that I can remember from previous years,” Morris recalled. “The Water Watch volunteers actually sifted sand in the dunes to remove glass from broken bottles,”
Morris also thanked Larry Hookey and Anne Fitzgerald for heading a small cleanup group at East Beach. “They reported lots of people debris and no marine debris at East Beach,” Morris said.
Seeing so many youngsters involved in the cleanup had to be a good sign for adults who are frustrated by what seems like senseless trashing of beach areas. Earth Day is celebrated once a year, but everyone proud of Westport’s natural beauty wishes that the spirit of the day would be honored by all who use its shorelines the rest of the year.
Correspondent Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
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